New contracts mean the opening of another centre for Dulson Training

The new training and testing site is situated near the A5 and M54 between Telford and Gailey and will also act as an additional resource to complement an existing centre in Telford.

Dulson Training also has bases in Shrewsbury, Ludlow and Wrexham and the latest expansion has seen a £150,000 investment in vehicles – all of which will be based at the new site.

Steve Dulson, of Dulson Training, said: “The new centre is better situated for our Wolverhampton and Birmingham learners, helping us to deliver training and testing on a lot of new contracts as well as supplementing the services we are providing at our Telford site.

“We are providing PSV and HGV Category C1, C and C+E training courses there, so lorries and buses, and we are also offering B+E car and trailer training courses. It’s a major move for us which will make things easier to service a growing base of West Midlands clients.

“In order to help meet this rise in demand we have purchased four Euro 6 Renault T range tractor units and tri-axle box trailers at a cost in the region of £150,000. This new investment is taking us up to being one of the largest training fleets in the UK.”

Mr Dulson said the B+E accredited training, which applies to car and trailer towing, is something still deemed as extremely important despite the Government axing the test requirement last year.

“The pressure is still on individuals and companies to make sure anyone towing a trailer is safe and responsible to do so - even though there is no longer a need to take a test,” he added.

“It’s still advisable to have formal accredited training and we are providing these courses at all our centres. We have contracts with local and national companies to deliver this training on everything you need to know about towing a trailer – including loading, reversing, hitching and checking to ensure a trailer is safe to go on the road.

“We have private and corporate clients and during the last three weeks we have delivered training for companies in Cumbria, Hull, Devon, Norfolk, the West Midlands and Cheshire.

“Companies are certainly seeing the value in both insurance and corporate responsibility in making sure their staff are safe to tow on the road. A course can be undertaken with us with the driver using their own car and trailer or, alternatively, we can supply the equipment.

“That can involve car and caravan, towing a horse box or for construction or utility use, such as low loaders, mini-diggers or tipper trailers - anything that applies to towing within the B+E category.”

The opening of the new centre comes as Dulson Training celebrates being accepted on the Register of Apprentice Training Providers (RoATP), having successfully complied with the high standards to obtain Government approval.

“We have invested a lot of time into this - it’s very difficult to obtain this status,” Mr Dulson added. “But being an approved apprenticeship training provider is another thing which has helped us with contracts throughout the West Midlands and North Wales.”